On the Taurus New Moon, I put my Sacred Rose deck back into its butterfly book-box and switched over officially to the new Smith-Waite deck, which has been under my pillow every night for a couple of weeks now. I've been pulling a "card of the day" from it ever since I got it, to help with the bonding. I feel very comfortable with this deck now, especially since it gave me all three of my so-called Life Cards - Empress, Hanged Man and The World - on three consecutive days as card of the day, in their chronological order. That was rather astonishing.
Starting on the New Moon, I began something called "The Pestle of the Moon" which is not really a divination but more of a meditation or exercise. This was described in the Katz-Goodwin book on the Smith-Waite tarot. The purpose is to "regenerate your intuitive abilities". It derives from W.B.Yeats' poem called Phases of the Moon where he gives attributes for the Moon's phases. Katz and Goodwin describe it as "an entirely off-book method that may or may not even register consciously as to its effect." They suggest that it be done as a meditation, for relaxation and enjoyment. They also suggest that dreams be recorded during the Pestle of the Moon cycle, naturally.
On the New Moon, according to directions, I laid out the High Priestess and Moon cards with the High Priestess above Moon. Then 8 random cards were drawn and placed around these two, starting at the right which is New Moon, then going widdershins to Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter and Waning Crescent. Each phase lasts about three days and nights.
I found a free lunar phase app to download to my phone, yippee! Ready to go.
The meditation or exercise is simple. Take the card of the current phase and put it by the bed. Before going to sleep, glance at it and let intuition pick out one thing from it as a focus. Eyes closed, visualize the card, then open eyes and glance at it again. Repeat until the card is clearly visualized. Then while falling asleep, repeat the keyphrase of the moon phase, derived from Yeats' poem, while seeing the image growing larger. As it grows and takes you in, merge with the scene. Let the keyphrase turn into sound, a chant, or music and take you deeper into sleep and into the card's image.
The first two nights after the New Moon, I did this with the World card. The keyphrase for the New Moon is "Cradle". Two things stood out to me in the Smith-Waite World card. The four figures at the corners of the card (which to me represent the fixed signs of the Zodiac) seemed cartoonish. One is a man (Aquarius) but the other three seemed to have human features, which struck me as a little silly and whimsical, but it was ok. The second thing was that the wreath around the dancing figure looked scaly to me, and I kept picturing it as an ourubourus snake even though I know its supposed to be leaves, ideally with roses. Why did Pixie leave off the roses, I wondered. The first night was very relaxing and I enjoyed the meditation, especially connecting the "cradle" idea with The World, being rocked gently to sleep. I did dream but couldn't remember it.
The second night (last night) was completely different. Instead of relaxing, it was vaguely scary and the meditation kept me awake instead of soothing me. I couldn't stop thinking about the snake-like wreath, which didn't really bother me. I like snakes. But it just kept coming back into my mind and preventing anything else from occurring to me. Even the 'cradle" rocking didn't help me to get into the right state, which got more tense as I continued. Finally I gave up and just let myself go to sleep without even trying to visualize anything.
Tonight is a new card for the Waxing Crescent phase, whose keyphrase is "The Dream". The card is the Six of Cups, a pleasant card for a dream. Meanwhile I transcribed the Yeats poem into my Moon journal for handy reference. So we'll see what happens next.
I'm looking forward to regenerating some intuitive abilities, as Katz and Goodwin describe in their intro. I feel that I'm intellectualizing too much - which is my nature, with natal Moon in Aquarius and Gemini Rising. However, this is supposed to be an "off-book" exercise for renewed intuition, and here I am doing research, looking up the Yeats poem, studying moon phases, even re-reading my old notes on Florence Farr and Golden Dawn, to prepare for this lunar cycle working. Wrong? I guess I should just let it flow, without any expectations or pre-fabricated ideas, and give my rusty, hide-bound intuition a chance to emerge from the shadows.
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Tarot Blog: Introduction (for lack of a better title)
I've decided to make this personal blog into a Tarot Blog. I wish I could think of a more magickal sounding name for it. Maybe eventually I will. "Tarot Blog" is just so plain and ugly, and I hate the word "blog" with rhymes with "flog"....
Anyway - the reason behind it? I've been in a renaissance with Tarot lately. Long story, which started with receiving Book of Shadows Tarot from a dear friend as a Yule gift in 2013. While it was good to have cards that were Wiccan-themed, many of these cards seemed to have no connection to traditional Tarot images and symbols, which was a challenge. Still, I loved working with it over the past year and half or so. It expanded my horizons with regard to how the basic form of tarot can be used and forced me to consider a broader possible interpretation of the cards in general. Before that, I'd been in a quiet phase of tarot, having lost my entire collection of at least 20 tarot decks in a fire a few years ago. Shortly after that, I received a new Sacred Rose deck from a thoughtful soul-friend, and those cards are still my all-time favorite. I purchased a few of the newer decks, but wasn't quite ready to pursue a regular tarot practice for awhile. I was in a quiet phase with everything, as I rebuilt my life and slowly found my way back home.
What I'd been doing over this past year and a half with the Book of Shadows tarot was simply drawing 3 cards on each New Moon. Then I would check in on the following Full Moon and make notes on how this was working, or not. As the moons passed, I noticed that the 3 cards seemed to coincide with the ongoing lunar phases. The first card, which I was originally reading as "The Past", was a good indicator for the first part of the waxing phase. When I checked in mid-cycle, on New Moon, the middle card, which I'd been reading as "Present" was beginning to manifest effects. The third card, "Future", was an accurate picture of what was going on by the time I did my final look at these three cards on the next New Moon, prior to pulling out the next set of 3. And so on and so forth.
I should explain my methods of tarot reading here before going on to what came next. I am a minimalist as far as card readings are concerned. The fewer cards, the better, and I don't do reversed interpretations at all. If a card turns up reversed, I simply turn it right-side-up, with the philosophy that the tarot is a completely positive divination tool and doesn't intend any of its messages to be reversed. If a card or cards betokens some warning, it should be obvious from the picture presented by the reading as a whole. Besides, reading with no need to reverse a card's meaning makes it easier for me. At one point in my 50 years of off and on tarot studies, I went through the inevitable stage of believing that the more cards you use in a reading, the more accurate it can be. I did readings with entire decks, using every card, major and minor arcana, and all sorts of complicated Life Readings and Soul Readings and other mumbo jumbo. What a mess. Not only was it exhausting and took hours to do, but it was usually a very ambiguous reading in the end with so many possibilities (all the cards!) thrown out for perusal. Finally I gave up on the huge tarot readings and used less and less cards until now I am down to just 3 at a time, which gives me a very clear picture at this point in my tarot journey.
About 2 months ago I started reading posts online about Pamela Colman Smith, the artist of the Rider-Waite tarot deck. Right away, I felt a strong kinship with this woman known as "Pixie", as I learned more and more about her life and her art. I ordered a copy of the book "Secrets of the Waite-Smith Tarot" by Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin as soon as it was published. Then another close friend gifted me with the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set for my birthday, to top it all off! It's a beautifully boxed set that includes the Smith-Waite Centennial Edition deck, a copy of Waite's "Pictorial Tarot" which was originally written to accompany the first publication of the deck, another book "The Artwork and Times of Pamela Colman Smith" by Stuart Kaplan, some postcards and prints of Smith's non-tarot artwork, a photo of herself, and a little folder of layouts for the cards. I've read some reviews of this boxed set that complain about the way the Centennial Edition deck has been printed, presumably with a rather faded effect to make it look old and a bit fuzzy. I have no problem with this, in fact I love it. It gives a feeling of time-travel through the cards, which I thoroughly enjoy.
So I'm off on a new track of my lifetime travels with the tarot. As custom recommends, I've been sleeping with my new Smith-Waite tarot deck under my pillow. It's a new look at an old deck, one that is a classic and has accompanied me off and on throughout my tarot adventures. With the next new moon, I will start using it as my regular deck. Until then, I will draw one card a day. This will help me bond with the deck.
This blog entry sets the stage for future entries to come. If you liked reading this, stay tuned for more. I welcome comments and discussion too.
Anyway - the reason behind it? I've been in a renaissance with Tarot lately. Long story, which started with receiving Book of Shadows Tarot from a dear friend as a Yule gift in 2013. While it was good to have cards that were Wiccan-themed, many of these cards seemed to have no connection to traditional Tarot images and symbols, which was a challenge. Still, I loved working with it over the past year and half or so. It expanded my horizons with regard to how the basic form of tarot can be used and forced me to consider a broader possible interpretation of the cards in general. Before that, I'd been in a quiet phase of tarot, having lost my entire collection of at least 20 tarot decks in a fire a few years ago. Shortly after that, I received a new Sacred Rose deck from a thoughtful soul-friend, and those cards are still my all-time favorite. I purchased a few of the newer decks, but wasn't quite ready to pursue a regular tarot practice for awhile. I was in a quiet phase with everything, as I rebuilt my life and slowly found my way back home.
What I'd been doing over this past year and a half with the Book of Shadows tarot was simply drawing 3 cards on each New Moon. Then I would check in on the following Full Moon and make notes on how this was working, or not. As the moons passed, I noticed that the 3 cards seemed to coincide with the ongoing lunar phases. The first card, which I was originally reading as "The Past", was a good indicator for the first part of the waxing phase. When I checked in mid-cycle, on New Moon, the middle card, which I'd been reading as "Present" was beginning to manifest effects. The third card, "Future", was an accurate picture of what was going on by the time I did my final look at these three cards on the next New Moon, prior to pulling out the next set of 3. And so on and so forth.
I should explain my methods of tarot reading here before going on to what came next. I am a minimalist as far as card readings are concerned. The fewer cards, the better, and I don't do reversed interpretations at all. If a card turns up reversed, I simply turn it right-side-up, with the philosophy that the tarot is a completely positive divination tool and doesn't intend any of its messages to be reversed. If a card or cards betokens some warning, it should be obvious from the picture presented by the reading as a whole. Besides, reading with no need to reverse a card's meaning makes it easier for me. At one point in my 50 years of off and on tarot studies, I went through the inevitable stage of believing that the more cards you use in a reading, the more accurate it can be. I did readings with entire decks, using every card, major and minor arcana, and all sorts of complicated Life Readings and Soul Readings and other mumbo jumbo. What a mess. Not only was it exhausting and took hours to do, but it was usually a very ambiguous reading in the end with so many possibilities (all the cards!) thrown out for perusal. Finally I gave up on the huge tarot readings and used less and less cards until now I am down to just 3 at a time, which gives me a very clear picture at this point in my tarot journey.
About 2 months ago I started reading posts online about Pamela Colman Smith, the artist of the Rider-Waite tarot deck. Right away, I felt a strong kinship with this woman known as "Pixie", as I learned more and more about her life and her art. I ordered a copy of the book "Secrets of the Waite-Smith Tarot" by Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin as soon as it was published. Then another close friend gifted me with the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set for my birthday, to top it all off! It's a beautifully boxed set that includes the Smith-Waite Centennial Edition deck, a copy of Waite's "Pictorial Tarot" which was originally written to accompany the first publication of the deck, another book "The Artwork and Times of Pamela Colman Smith" by Stuart Kaplan, some postcards and prints of Smith's non-tarot artwork, a photo of herself, and a little folder of layouts for the cards. I've read some reviews of this boxed set that complain about the way the Centennial Edition deck has been printed, presumably with a rather faded effect to make it look old and a bit fuzzy. I have no problem with this, in fact I love it. It gives a feeling of time-travel through the cards, which I thoroughly enjoy.
So I'm off on a new track of my lifetime travels with the tarot. As custom recommends, I've been sleeping with my new Smith-Waite tarot deck under my pillow. It's a new look at an old deck, one that is a classic and has accompanied me off and on throughout my tarot adventures. With the next new moon, I will start using it as my regular deck. Until then, I will draw one card a day. This will help me bond with the deck.
This blog entry sets the stage for future entries to come. If you liked reading this, stay tuned for more. I welcome comments and discussion too.
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